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Monday, 10 April 2017

Janek Mäggi nominated for the position of President of the World Federation of Women's Play

During
the World Championship of international draughts from October 1-17 in
Tallinn, the General Assembly of World Draughts Federation (FMJD)
will take place on October 7, where representatives from 65member
countries will elect the new president for the federation. Estonian
Draughts Association nominated Janek Mäggi as presidential candidate
and Aare Harak as treasurer.

“We
have been working together with Janek for ten years, since 2007, when
he was elected President of European Draughts Confederation (EDC),”
says Harry
Otten,
current President of the World Draughts Federation. “EDC is
definitely the leading continental confederation and Janek has been
re-elected as its president twice. As leader of European draughts, he
has participated in the management of FMJD for a decade and he is
ready to pick up the baton. I support Janek’s candidacy and wish to
continue co-operation with him in the new Council of FMJD. My aim is
to start working in the newly established position as manager of
international relations, for whom one of the tasks will be to receive
the official recognition from the International Olympic Committee.”

The
second Estonian person, running for the position of Treasurer of
FMJD, is Aare Harak, who has been Head of Financial Committee of FMJD
until now. “Aare Harak has been professional and punctual as Head
of the Financial Committee – the way it should be in the field of
finance,” says Frank
Teer,
Secretary General of FMJD. “I believe the new council will work as
an effective team, valuing previous experience and increasing the
role of draughts in the world during the upcoming years.”

“Janek
has been boosting Estonian, European and world draughts since 1999,”
says Tarmo
Tulva,
President of Estonian Draughts Association. “Until now, for a total
of 18 years, he is member of the board of Estonian Draughts
Association, having been president until 2015. Since 2007, when Janek
was elected President of EDC, the headquarters of the confederation
has been in Tallinn. Thanks to this, at least one title competition
has taken place in Tallinn each year. European Championships in 2008
and 2014 were most important, also the world title match in 2013. In
case Janek is elected President of FMJD in autumn, Estonian capital
city Tallinn, being currently European capital of draughts, will
become world capital of draughts. We are confident that Tallinn has
proved to the World Draughts Federation - we are worthy of this
opportunity.”

Harry
Otten has been President of FMJD since 2009, he has announced not to
run for president after end of this term. In case Janek Mäggi will
be elected president, he will resign from the position of EDC
President and the headquarters of EDC will move away from Tallinn.
FMJD headquarters will be allocated both in Tallinn and Amsterdam.

“On
October 8, the next day after the general assembly of FMJD, the
annual general meeting of EDC will also take place,” says Tarmo
Tulva. “Janek has two years left as President of EDC, but in case
he gets elected, he will resign from that position and a new
president for EDC will be elected. We are working to find a dignified
new president for EDC, in case this change will become necessary, so
that the headquarters can move to a country which has good organizing
capacity in draughts.”

World
Draughts Federation (FMJD,www.fmjd.org)
was founded in 1947 by four federations, France, the Netherlands,
Belgium and Switzerland. Its main purpose was to regulate the
competition on the world championship. From 1897 onwards, world
champions had been proclaimed by France and the Netherlands, which
gave rise to the desire by a number of countries to have more
accurate competition and tournaments, which led to the establishment
of an international organization. By today, the FMJD has grown to an
organization with 70 participating national federations.

The
FMJD has become a member of SportAccord, which unites all
internationally renown sports federations and IMSA, the International
Mind Sports Association where FMJD, FIDE (chess), WBF (bridge), Go
and Xiangqi (Chinese chess) work together towards the integrations of
mind sports.

European
Draughts Confederation (www.europedraughts.org)
was founded in 1998 in Tallinn by the federations of 12 countries.
Today, the confederation has 26 member countries. The first president
of EDC was Jacek Pawlicki from Poland and until the end of 2007 the
head office of EDC was located in Poland. The current president of
EDC is Janek Mäggi and the head office of EDC is the Chess House in
Tallinn. EDC oganises European championships in draughts and its task
is to promote draughts as sports in Europe as well as attract new
member countries.

Estonian
Draughts Association (www.kabeliit.ee)
is an umbrella organization of Estonian draughts clubs and is also
member of the Estonian Olympic Committee. The association is also
member of The
World Draughts Federation and the founding member of the European
Draughts Confederation (EDC,
www.europedraughts.org).